“Orang Yang Arif Itu Berani, Bagaimana Ia Tidak Berani, Kerana Cintanya Akan Kebenaran Telah Menyebabkan Diri Tidak Takut Mati” - Ibnu Sina.

Introduction

Abu Hamid ibn Muhammad al-Ghazzali is one of towering figures in Muslim thought. His diverse knowledge in many scope of intellectual fields made him a special figure in Islamic thought. His originality in his struggle to distinguish truth from falsehood put him in par with; but with his own originality and uniqueness upon - certain Western philosophers such as Rene Descartes’s method of doubt, David Hume’s skepticism and Emmanuel Kant’s criticism of pure reason. Thus, it may be reiterated that the thought of al-Ghazzali was not only of his time but of all times. His courageous and energetic quest to find truth and falsehood and of uncertainties of sectarian conflicts during his time are not only attract past and contemporary Muslim scholars to study his thoughts, but also non-Muslim scholars to extensively study his thought in every field of knowledge.

According to MacDonald, he is the equal of Augustine in the philosophical and theological disciplines; by on his side the Aristotelian philosophers of Islam seem beggarly compilers and scholastics. However, Imam al-Ghazzali did not discard philosophy in toto, but he analyzed the practices of the Muslim philosophers of his time and elucidated the wrongdoings of their thoughts according to his religious understandings through the guidance of the Qur’an and the hadith or the tradition. Thus, Imam al-Ghazzali is not upholding the orthodox belief through dogmatic method, but through critical analysis and justification. This can be coined as a ‘dynamic orthodoxy.’ It also worth noted that the intellectual development of Imam al-Ghazzali was dynamic in progress in which, through his work, one can trace the complexity and diverse thought of Imam al-Ghazzali which may explained other elements of intellectual thought that influenced the world view of al-Ghazzali such as Platonism and Neo-Platonism and even Aristotelian philosophy and logic to counter back to what he perceived as heterodox elements during his age. This notion has been suggested by Western scholars such as Hava Lazarus Yafeh. However, this is not within this brief essay which gives an emphasis on his life, thought and works.

His Background and Quest for True Knowledge

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazzali, known in the Western world as Algazel, surnamed Hujjat al-Islam. i.e., “the argument of Islam. He was born in 1058 A.D. at Tus in Khurasan. His father was a pious Sufi dervish who lived a simple and modest life by working as a wool spinner. He very often visited and sat in the company of the fuqaha’, and when he listened to their sermons, he wept and prayed to God to grant him a son that would be a faqih. Just before his death, he entrusted both of his sons, Muhammad al-Ghazzali and Ahmad al-Ghazzali to a pious Sufi dervish.

After being sometime with him, Imam al-Ghazzali went to Jurhan to study with Abu Nasr al-Isma’ili. Then he went to Nayshabur to study at the feet of Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni in the Nizamiyya Academy. He became a favourite student of Imam al-Haramayn due to his exceptional intellectual acumen. He soon began to serve under his master as an assistant teacher until the latter’s death in 1085 A.D. His studies were wide ranging and extensive in nature. Among them were theology, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, science, philosophy, logic, and mysticism. Due to his excellence reputation and vigor in the course of knowledge, Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi, the governor of Baghdad appointed him as the president of the Nizamiyya Academy of Baghdad, which was the most prestigious higher education in Baghdad during that time when he was still 20 years old. His teaching life was so successful. In one time, there were three hundred students would attend his lecture. Al-Ghazzali has achieved the highest height in his career and his earnings were more than enough to let him to live an affluent life. However, during the course of this interval, Imam al-Ghazzali fell into a deep crisis of spiritual unrest, at the extent of his health, so much that he lost all his appetite and could not teach or even utter a word during his lecture or in expressing his mental torment. This spiritual crisis is no surprise to be understood as since his child, Imam al-Ghazzali was very inquisitive and passionate young man who search after truth and wanted to know the reality of nature as it is. In his autobiography Munqidh min al-Dhalal or Deliverance from Error, he elucidated his natural nature as an ardent seeker of truth since his childhood:

“From the period of adolescence, that is to say previous to reaching my twentieth year to the present time when I have passed my fiftieth, I have ventured into this vast ocean; I have fearlessly sounded its depths, and like a resolute diver, I have penetrated its darkness and dared its dangers and abysses. I have interrogated the beliefs of each sect and scrutinized the mysteries of each doctrine, in order to disentangle truth from error and orthodoxy from heresy. I have never met one who maintained the hidden meaning of the Qur’an without investigating the nature of his belief, nor a partisan of its exterior sense without inquiring into the results of his doctrine. There is no philosopher whose system I have not fathomed, nor theologian the intricacies of whose doctrine I have not followed out.””

Imam al-Ghazzali found out that to achieve certainty and to grasp the reality of all things, he has to free himself from taqlid or blind imitation which is the simple acceptance of religious truths on authority. Imam al-Ghazzali later wrote:

“The thirst for knowledge was innate in me from an early age; it was like a second nature implanted by God, without any will of my part. No sooner had I emerged from boyhood that I had already broken the fetters of tradition and freed myself from hereditary beliefs. Having noticed how easily the children of Christians become Christians, and the children of Muslims embrace Islam, and remembering also the tradition saying ascribed to the Prophet, “Every child is born in fitra, then his parents make him Jew, Christians, or Zoroastrian,” I was moved by a keen desire to learn what was this innate disposition in the child, the nature of accidental belief imposed on him by the authority of his parents and his masters, and finally the unreasoned convictions which he derives from their instructions.”

He later on examined the source of knowledge, namely the epistemological process of knowing. His first attempt was on sense-perception. His interrogation led him to question the validity of knowledge through sense-perception:

“I then set myself earnestly to examine the notions we drive from the evidence of the senses and from the evidence of the senses and from sight in order to see if they could be called in question. The result of a careful examination was that my confidence in them was shaken. Our sight for instance, perhaps the best practiced of all our senses, observes a shadow, and finding it apparently stationary pronounces it devoid of movement. Observation and experience, however, show subsequently that a shadow moves not suddenly, it is true, but gradually and imperceptibly so that it is never really motionless… I then set myself earnestly to examine the notions we derive from the evidence of the senses and from that of the sight in order to see if they could be called in question. The result of a careful examination was that my confidence in them was shaken. Then I said unto myself, ‘Since I cannot trust to the evidence of my senses, I must rely only on intellectual conceptions based on fundamental principles.”

In due course however, his conviction on the legitimacy of intellectual capacity to arrive to truth also started to fall down. The knowledge acquired from reasoning and intellectual discernment and process might be real in relation to the thinker’s present state. However, it might not be true outside the realm of this so-called reality or the present state that is the state of sleep. Thus al-Ghazzali questioned himself – How can we differentiate between the experience of the present state and the experience we perceived when we are asleep?

“Do you not see,” I reflected, “that while asleep you assume your dreams to be indisputably real? Once awake, you recognize them for what they are – baseless chimeras. Who can assure you, then, of the reliability of notions which, when awake, you derive from the senses and from reason? In relation to your present state they may be real; but it is possible also that you may enter upon another state of being which will bear the same relation to your present state as this does to your condition when asleep. In the new sphere you will recognize that the conclusion of reason is only chimeras.”

This is undoubtedly a real state of skepticism when one even questioned the validity of reason and rational deliberation. To this state, no knowledge can be comprehended in its true sense. This may led to total collapse on the ability to derive knowledge from the nature of present realm to find the reality behind it, even to the extent to question the existence of our own self. Thus al-Ghazzali believed that the only mean for human being to perceive reality is only when one is in the state of death. Al-Ghazzali quoted the saying of the Prophet: “Men are asleep; when they die, they wake.” He then quote the word of the Qur’an: “Today We have removed the veil from thine eyes and thy sight is keen.” (Qur’an; al-Qaf, 50:22).

According al-Ghazzali, when his thought and rational faculties were at the brink of collapse, it is the light from God, which he believed, entered his heart by the grace of God. It brought him to the conviction that this life is real and reasoning should not be dismissed as mere hallucination. If one look to the thought of Descartes, one can see that there is a parallel initial conviction of these two figures on the experience of doubt that led to a confirmation of the legitimacy of reason as tool to perceive reality. However, Descartes stopped at reason, finding certitude in the notion, “Cogito argo sum, and made this conviction as the archetype of his philosophy. Al-Ghazali on the other hand went farther. He founded certainty on the will to believe, the will to accept Divine Grace from the source of all knowledge, i.e., in the proposition “Volo ergo sum. However, this Divine Grace should not lead to irrational or abandonment of the legitimacy of religious ethical values and article of faiths.

According to al-Ghazzali, this experience of doubt leads him to break away from the shackle of Taqlid. Even though Taqlid may offer him peace of mind, Taqlid will not lead him to the conviction of truth. Taqlid may offer a person a peace of mind to abandon the quest for truth and accepted religious conviction from the people surrounding him; parents, spouse, sectarian affiliation, and teachers. It will never offer satisfaction for those who want to grasp the true religious experience through his effort and deliberation. This is really a tall order for anyone to strive for even though it is to the expense of his own peace of mind and comfortable lifestyle.

His Thought

During his time, there was a massive disunity among the Muslims under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate. The rule of Baghdad faced disintegration as the provincial governors gained power. At the time of Imam al-Ghazzali, authority has been questioned on who has the religious authority. In his time confusion was reigning. The political situation during that time can be described as fragile. The real political power at that time was at the hand of the Seljuqs which Nizam al-Mulk was the best example and the Caliph at Baghdad was just a titular ruler. In this confusion and dissension, Nizam al-Mulk was finding what sort of Islam should the state be patronized. Imam al-Ghazzali time and again stressed that the main veil that hinder one to experience the existence of God is religious fanaticism. Religion then thus according to him is not a tool to splinter the society into various sects and parties. Nizam al-Mulk could see that Imam al-Ghazzali is a figure that could bring stability to the state and could bring down the political and social dissension over his rule.

Before the birth of Imam al-Ghazzali until his time, the different sects of Islam often came to a heated dispute among themselves. The disciples of one Imam would be ardent enemies of the followers of another. No sect would tolerate the beliefs of other sects. Al-Ghazzali himself was persecuted at the hands of the theologians, and even his books were burnt in Spain because they preached freedom of thought. Religion became dry and didactic and just for the sake of performing formal practices and rituals. The rationale, ethical significance and wisdom behind these religious practices were ignored and belittled. Some of the theologians taught Islam in order to extract money and gain popularity.

Al-Ghazzali found all the religious sects of his time to be extremely biased, uncompromising and exclusive in nature. Members of one sect hurled other sects as heretics on the ground if slight differences of opinion. Every sect claimed that it alone was in possession of the truth. Al-Ghazzali analyzed each sect in his various works. In the Munqidh, he examined the position of the Batinis or the Ta’limites of the Shi’ite Isma’ilis, the theologians, the Sufis and the different sects of the philosophers. To pacify the different sects he showed in Ihya’ that each of the four great Imam of the fiqh madhhab was a model of pious conduct.

Imam al-Ghazzali in his work Munqidh scrutinized the different sects during his time. There are the theologians, the philosophers, the Ta’limites or the Batiniyyah of the Isma‘ilite Shi‘ite, and the Sufis.

Imam al-Ghazzali categorized the philosophers during his time into three main categories. They are the Theists or Illahiyyun, the Naturalists or the Tabi‘iyun, and the Materialists or the Atheists or the Dahriyun. In his book entitled Tahafut al-Falasifah (Incoherence of the Philosophers), he gave his critics on the thought of the Muslim philosophers particularly al-Farabi and Ibn Sina. In this work, as MacDonald outs it he smote the philosophers hip and thigh, he turned the philosophers’ own weapon against them as was done by al-Ash‘ari earlier and proved that which their premises and methods no certainty could be reached. He argues that many of the philosophers doctrines were oisitively false and baseless such as: the eternity and everlastingness of the world; emanation from God intelligences and souls of the celestial spheres and these spheres’ possessing the knowledge of the particulars; delimitation of God’s knowledge merely to universals; denial of miracles based on a view of causation; the denial of bodily resurrection in the life hereafter, etc.

According to Imam al-Ghazzali, he achieved his contentment in his pursuit of knowledge in Sufism:

“I learnt from a sure source that the Sufis are the true pioneers on the path of God: that there is nothing more beautiful than their life, or more praiseworthy than their rule of conduct, or purer than their morality.”

He continued his assays on some of the controversial concept in the world of Sufism:

“The degree of proximity to Deity which they (the Sufis) attain is regarded by some as intermixture of being, (hulul), by others as identification (ittihad), by others as intimate union (wasl). But all these expressions are wrong, as we have explained in our work entitled The Chief Aim. Those who have reached that stage should confine themselves to repeating the verse: What I experience I shall not try to say: Call me happy, but ask me no more.”

In Mishkat al- Anwar (Niche of the Light), al-Ghazzali regarded Mansur al-Hallaj as a great Sufi, but according to him al-Hallaj should not uncover the secret of ecstasy experience to the masses.

SEBAHAGIAN DARIPADA PENGIKUT-PENGIKUT MUDA IMAM MAHDI (A.S.) AKAN MENJAUHKAN DAN MEMISAHKAN DIRI DARIPADA KELUARGA-KELUARGA MEREKA YANG TERPERANGKAP DALAM TIPU DAYA DAJJAL AKIBAT DARIPADA TEKANAN DAN ANCAMAN YANG MENIMPA KE ATAS MEREKA

Sepanjang lembaran sejarah, para pemuda yang beriman yang telah memilih jalan yang benar yang telah disampaikan oleh Nabi-Nabi yang telah diutuskan sebagai rahmat daripada Allah, yang telah membantu mereka dan beriman dengan Kitab-Kitab yang diturunkan oleh Allah, sering kali ditimpa pelbagai tekanan daripada orang-orang sekeliling mereka, terutamanya keluarga-keluarga mereka. Para pemuda ini akan mencintai Hazrat Mahdi (a.s) dengan sepenuh hati, yang kedatangannya di Akhir Masa diharapkan dengan rasa yang penuh gembira. Mereka akan mempercayai Imam Mahdi (a.s.) sebenar-benarnya sebagai seorang utusan suci yang diturunkan oleh Allah dan mereka akan hidup berdasarkan nilai-nilai moral al-Qur’an bersama mereka. Para pemuda ini akan menerima pelbagai jenis ujian yang pernah menimpa orang-orang Islam yang lain sepanjang lembaran sejarah, seperti mana yang disebutkan dalam ayat ini: Apakah kamu mengira bahwa kamu akan masuk syurga, padahal belum datang kepadamu (cubaan) sebagaimana halnya orang-orang terdahulu sebelum kamu? (Al-Baqarah: 214). Maka oleh kerana itu, terdapat persamaan antara contoh-contoh yang disebut dalam al-Qur’an dan perkara-perkara yang menimpa sesetengah pengikut Hazrat Imam Mahdi (a.s.)

TELAH DIRIWAYATKAN DALAM SEBUAH HADITH BAHAWA PARA PENGIKUT IMAM MAHDI (A.S.) AKAN TIDAK MEMPUNYAI KAWAN SELAIN ANTARA MEREKA, SEHINGGAKAN JIKA MEREKA SESAT, TIDAK AKAN ADA SIAPA MENCARI MEREKA. INI MENUNJUKKAN PANDANGAN NEGATIF MASYARAKAT YANG TINGGAL BERSAMA MEREKA, KELUARGA MEREKA, DAN SAUDARA MEREKA TERHADAP MEREKA:

Dia berkata: Carilah mereka di penghujung dunia. Kehidupan mereka adalah sederhana, rumah mereka di belakang mereka, jika mereka hadir mereka tidak akan dikenali, JIKA MEREKA SESAT JALAN, TIDAK ADA SESIAPA YANG AKAN MENCARI MEREKA, JIKA MEREKA SAKIT TIDAK ADA SIAPA AKAN MELAWAT MEREKA, jika mereka ingin berkahwin, tidak ada siapa akan menerima lamaran mereka. SEKIRANYA MEREKA MATI, TIDAK ADA SIAPA YANG AKAN HADIR PENGEBUMIAN MEREKA. Mereka berkongsi harta benda mereka sama rata antara mereka dan melawat kubur masing-masing; impian mereka adalah sama, walaupun mereka tinggal di bandar yang berlainan.

(Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim Nomani, al-Ghaybah al-Nomani, p. 23).

HADITH MENUNJUKKAN BAHAWA PARA PENOLONG HAZRAT MAHDI (A.S.) SEDIKIT BILANGANNYA SEPERTI PARA PENGIKUT NABI MUSA (A.S.) DAN PEMUDA AL-KAHFI.

Hukaym Ibn S’ad berkata: Saya mendengar panglima mereka yang beriman Ali (r.a) berkata: MASYARAKAT QAIM [HAZRAT MAHDI (A.S.)] ADALAH MUDA, DAN TIADA YANG TUA ANTARA MEREKA. Bilangan mereka sedikit seperti kohl di mata atau garam dalam makanan. Dan garam adalah sesuatu yang paling kecil dalam makanan.

(Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim Nomani, al-Ghaybah al-Nomani, p. 374).

Hadith-hadith lain menunjukkan akan terdapat orang muda (orang muda di sini bukan bermaksud belia 30 tahun yang sudah menginginkan status quo dan sesuatu yang ‘praktikal’ untuk memuaskan keluarga, anak-anak dan isteri ‘tercinta’. Ini kerana seperti yang tersebut di atas, sekiranya mereka ingin melamar seseorang, maka lamarannya akan ditolak, menunjukkan mereka muda remaja bukan ‘remaja’ tua – pendapat malakian) yang akan berada di sekeliling Hazrat Mahdi (a.s.):

Hazrat Mahdi (a.s.) adalah SEORANG YANG MUDA daripada Ahl al-Bayt (daripada keturunanku (Rasulullah)). GOLONGAN TUA DI ANTARA KAMU TIDAK AKAN MENEMUINYA, TETAPI GOLONGAN MUDA AKAN BERHARAP UNTUK MENEMUINYA. Allah akan melakukan sebagaimana yang dikehendaki-Nya.
(Al-Burhan fi Alamat al-Mahdi Akhir Zaman, p. 23)

Bendera Imam Mahdi akan dipegang oleh seorang ORANG MUDA yang KECIL dengan janggut yang sedikit dan berwarna kuning. (Janggut yang sedikit dan berwarna kuning menunjukkan dia sangat muda, bukan berjanggut putih yang menunjukkan usia yang sudah lanjut – pendapat malakian).
(Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar, fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 51)

Pemegang bendera beliau (Hazrat Mahdi a.s.) AKAN MERUPAKAN SEORANG YANG MUDA daripada keturunan Tamimi daripada Timur.
(Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar , fi ‘Alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 26).

DI DALAM AL-QUR’AN, ALLAH MERUJUK KEPADA ORANG ISLAM YANG MENINGGALKAN KELUARGA-KELUARGA MEREKA ATAU MASYARAKAT YANG TINGGAL BERSAMA MEREKA KERANA TEKANAN DAN PENINDASAN YANG DIHADAPI MEREKA, SEPERTI:

(Ingatlah) tatkala para pemuda itu mencari tempat berlindung ke dalam gua, lalu mereka berdoa: “Wahai Tuhan kami, berikanlah rahmat kepada kami dari sisi-Mu dan sempurnakanlah bagi kami petunjuk yang lurus dalam urusan kami (ini).” (Surah al-Kahf: 10)

Dan janganlah sekali-kali menceritakan halmu kepada seorangpun. Sesungguhnya jika mereka dapat mengetahui tempatmu, nescaya mereka akan melempar kamu dengan batu, atau memaksamu kembali kepada agama mereka, dan jika demikian nescaya kamu tidak akan beruntung selama lamanya.” (Surah al-Kahfi, 19-20).

ORANG MUDA YANG BERIMAN DENGAN NABI MUSA (A.S.):

Maka tidak ada yang beriman kepada Musa, melainkan pemuda-pemuda dari kaumnya (Musa) dalam keadaan takut bahwa Fir’aun dan pemuka-pemuka kaumnya akan menyiksa mereka. Sesungguhnya Fir’aun itu berbuat sewenang-wenang di muka bumi. Dan sesungguhnya dia termasuk orang-orang yang melampaui batas. (Surah Yunus: 83).

NABI IBRAHIM (A.S) YANG MEMISAHKAN DIRINYA DARIPADA BAPANYA:

Berkata bapaknya: “Bencikah kamu kepada tuhan-tuhanku, hai Ibrahim? Jika kamu tidak berhenti, maka niscaya kamu akan kurejam, dan tinggalkanlah aku buat waktu yang lama.”
Berkata Ibrahim: “Semoga keselamatan dilimpahkan kepadamu, aku akan memintakan ampun bagimu kepada Tuhanku. Sesungguhnya Dia sangat baik kepadaku”
“Dan aku akan menjauhkan diri darimu dan dari apa yang kamu seru selain Allah, dan aku akan berdoa kepada Tuhanku, mudah-mudahan aku tidak akan kecewa dengan berdoa kepada Tuhanku”. (Maryam, 46-48).

Dan permintaan ampun dari Ibrahim (kepada Allah) untuk bapaknya tidak lain hanyalah karena suatu janji yang telah diikrarkannya kepada bapaknya itu. Maka, tatkala jelas bagi Ibrahim bahwa bapaknya itu adalah musuh Allah, maka Ibrahim berlepas diri dari padanya. Sesungguhnya Ibrahim adalah seorang yang sangat lembut hatinya lagi penyantun. (Al-Tawba: 114).

NABI NUH (A.S.) MENGASINGKAN DIRI DARIPADA ANAKNYA:

Dan Nuh berseru kepada Tuhannya sambil berkata: “Ya Tuhanku, sesungguhnya anakku termasuk keluargaku, dan sesungguhnya janji Engkau itulah yang benar. Dan Engkau adalah Hakim yang seadil-adilnya.”
Allah berfirman: “Hai Nuh, sesungguhnya dia bukanlah termasuk keluargamu (yang dijanjikan akan diselamatkan), sesungguhnya (perbuatan)nya perbuatan yang tidak baik. Sebab itu janganlah kamu memohon kepada-Ku sesuatu yang kamu tidak mengetahui (hakikat)nya. Sesungguhnya Aku memperingatkan kepadamu supaya kamu jangan termasuk orang-orang yang tidak berpengetahuan.” (Hud: 45-46)

NABI NUH (A.S.) DAN LUT (A.S.) MENGASINGKAN DIRI MEREKA DARIPADA ISTERI-ISTERI MEREKA:

Allah membuat isteri Nuh dan isteri Luth sebagai perumpamaan bagi orang-orang kafir. Keduanya berada di bawah pengawasan dua orang hamba yang saleh di antara hamba-hamba Kami; lalu kedua isteri itu berkhianat kepada suaminya (masing-masing), maka suaminya itu tiada dapat membantu mereka sedikitpun dari (siksa) Allah; dan dikatakan (kepada keduanya): “Masuklah ke dalam jahannam bersama orang-orang yang masuk (jahannam).” (Al-Tahrim: 10)

Sebagaimana yang kita lihat pada ayat-ayat al-Qur’an di atas, sekiranya orang-orang yang beriman dengan Allah dan ingin hidup dalam keredhaanNya, akan menerima tekanan dan penindasan daripada keluarga mereka dan masyarakat di sekeliling mereka, dan mereka akan meninggalkan keluarga dan masyarakat dan hidup berdasarkan nilai moral dalam Islam, dalam keadaan aman dan selamat dengan orang beriman yang lain. Allah memuji sifat ini dalam al-Qur’an.

SEBAHAGIAN SAHABAT NABI DI ZAMAN NABI KITA MUHAMMAD (S.A.W.) DITIMPA TEKANAN YANG BERAT DARIPADA KELUARGA MEREKA , DIPENJARA DAN DIZALIMI, SEMATA-MATA KERANA BERIMAN KEPADA ALLAH DAN HIDUP BERDASARKAN NILAI MORAL AL-QUR’AN:

Ummu Gulthum Bin Ukda terpaksa hidup bersama penyembah berhala di Mekah selama tujuh tahun kerana tekanan keluarganya. Sejak dia berbai’ah dengan Rasulullah, dia, seperti orang Islam yang lain menerima pelbagai kezaliman dan tekanan. Dia terdedah kepada tekanan dan kezaliman terutama daripada ayahnya dan penyembah berhala yang lain agar dia meninggalkan nilai moral Islam. Walau bagaimanapun, dia merupakan contoh kepada orang Islan yang lain DENGAN MENINGGALKAN KELUARGANYA DAN PERGI BERHIJRAH SEORANG DIRI.

Mus’ab Ibn Umayr (r.a.) tetap mengunjungi Rasulullah secara rahsia, menyembunyikan keimanannya daripada keluarga dan rakan-rakannya. Tatkala keluarganya mengetahui dia secara rahsia menunaikan solat, beliau ditahan dan dipenjarakan oleh saudara-maranya sendiri, dan apabila terbuka peluang untuk berhijrah ke Ethiopia, DIA MENINGGALKAN KELUARGANYA DAN BERHIJRAH KE ETHIOPIA dengan kumpulan utama agar dapat hidup berdasarkan nilai moral Islam.

Hazrat Salama merupakan sahabat Nabi yang telah lama menerima perlakuan buruk daripada keluarganya kerana beriman kepada Allah. Walaupun beliau abangnya Harith beriman dan mengikuti Rasulullah (S.A.W), adik-beradiknya yang lain, Abu Jahl, As dan Khalid tidak menerima nilai moral agama yang diturukan oleh Allah dan menjadi musuh kepada terhadap adaik-beradiknya yang beriman. Salama diseksa dalam jangka masa yang lama oleh mereka yang dekat dengannya. Oleh kerana adik-beradiknya mencuba sedaya upaya untuk memaksa Salama meninggalkan nilai moral Islam, DIA BERHIJRAH KE ETHIOPIA AGAR DAPAT MENYELAMATKAN HIDUPNYA DAN DAPAT HIDUP MENGAMALKAN NILAI MORAL ISLAM SECARA BEBAS.

JELAS BAHAWA DALAM HADITH NABI MUHAMMAD (S.A.W) BAHAWA RAKAN-RAKAN DAN SAUDARA-MARA SEBAHAGIAN ORANG MUDA YANG BERSAMA HAZRAT MAHDI (A.S.) DI PENGHUJUNG MASA, DI TATKALA KEROSAKAN YANG DISEBABKAN OLEH DAJJAL SAMPAI KE KEMUNCAKNYA, MEREKA (SAUDARA-MARA ORANG MUDA PENGIKUT HAZRAT MAHDI) AKAN MEMUJUK MEREKA UNTUK MENGIKUT JALAN DAJJAL.

Adalah jelas bahawa sebahagian pengikut Hazrat Mahdi (a.s.) yang menerima tekanan akan bersikap sama terhadap orang-orang beriman yang lain:

Sebahagian kerosakan yang dibawa oleh Dajjal ialah ia akan berkata kepada seorang Badwi: “Adakah kamu akan percaya bahawa saya adalah Tuhanmu sekiranya saya menghidupkan kembali ibu dan ayahmu? Badwi itu berkata: “Ya.” Dua syaitan akan menjelma menyerupai rupa paras ibu dan ayahnya dan akan berkata: “WAHAI ANAKKU, IKUTILAH DIA. SESUNGGUHNYA DIA ADALAH TUHANMU.” (Hadith riwayat al-Tirmidhi.)

DALAM AL-QUR’AN, ALLAH MEMERINTAHKAN MANUSIA AGAR TIDAK BERSAMA TETAPI MENINGGALKAN MEREKA YANG INGIN MEMESONGKAN MEREKA DARIPADA JALANNYA, WALAUPUN MEREKA ITU ADALAH IBU, AYAH, ANAK-ANAK DAN ADIK-BERADIK.

Dan Kami wajibkan manusia (berbuat) kebaikan kepada dua orang ibu- bapaknya. Dan jika keduanya memaksamu untuk mempersekutukan Aku dengan sesuatu yang tidak ada pengetahuanmu tentang itu, maka janganlah kamu mengikuti keduanya. Hanya kepada-Ku-lah kembalimu, lalu Aku khabarkan kepadamu apa yang telah kamu kerjakan. (Al-Ankabut:8)

Hai orang-orang beriman, janganlah kamu jadikan bapa-bapa dan saudara-saudaramu menjadi wali(mu), jika mereka lebih mengutamakan kekafiran atas keimanan dan siapa di antara kamu yang menjadikan mereka wali, maka mereka itulah orang-orang yang zalim. (Al-Taubah: 23)

Hai orang-orang mukmin, sesungguhnya di antara isteri-isterimu dan anak-anakmu ada yang menjadi musuh bagimu maka berhati-hatilah kamu terhadap mereka dan jika kamu memaafkan dan tidak memarahi serta mengampuni (mereka) maka sesungguhnya Allah Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang. (Al-Taghabun: 14)

Kamu tak akan mendapati kaum yang beriman pada Allah dan hari akhirat, saling berkasih-sayang dengan orang-orang yang menentang Allah dan Rasul-Nya, sekalipun orang-orang itu bapa-bapa, atau anak-anak atau saudara-saudara ataupun keluarga mereka. (Al-Mujadalah: 22)

Sebagaimana yang dapat dilihat daripada ayat-ayat al-Qur’an dan hadith-hadith tersebut, SEBAHAGIAN ORANG MUDA YANG HIDUP DI ZAMAN HAZRAT MAHDI (A.S.) DAN MENGIKUTI PETUNJUK YANG BERGUNA INI UNTUK KESELAMATAN, akan menderita daripada perlakuan keluarga mereka, yang berada di bawah kawalan Dajjal, sebagaimana yang menimpa orang yang beriman di masa lalu, mereka (orang muda ini) akan memilih untuk “MENINGGALKAN DAN MEMISAHKAN DIRI” seperti yang diwahyukan Allah dalam al-Qur’an.

Diterjemahkan oleh Malakian daripada laman web Harun Yahya

This book was written by late Roderic H. Davison who was then a Professor at George Washington University. Mr. Davison was a renowned scholar in Ottoman history and holds the position as the President of both Middle East Studies Association and the Turkish Studies Association at the university.

In this book, the author tried to study the reform of the Ottoman Empire or known as the Tanzimat in Turkish which literally means reorganization that started in 1839 and ended with the establishment of the First Constitutional in 1876. The Tanzimat reform refers to the various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire by adopting Western ideas and practices into the administration, social, political, economic and others of the Ottoman Empire.

The writer try to discuss the reform attempts that was carried out during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II and Sultan Abdul Mejid and the Western educated grand vezir like Ali Pasha, Fuad Pasha, Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, and Midhat Pasha. He also discussed the influence of this Tanzimat to the establishment of modern Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Attaturk. This book was well-documented and the author has used numerous and extensive written historical sources ranging from primary sources that were written in Turkish and French, and other secondary sources. The author has put a large effort to collect the relevant materials and assessed it accordingly. This make this books a precious material for historians and students of Ottoman history.

The Tanzimat movement was a controversial issue to be discussed in one way or another. However, the author succeeded to documented the events chronologically and in some ways, guide the readers to understand the political condition of this period to make an assessment of how this movement happen and what led this important event in Ottoman history.
This book helps the readers to understand this major historical event on Ottoman history. Especially to English-speaking readers who do not have any access to Turkish and other foreign language historical materials.

In Chapter I, Introduction: Decline and Reform to 1856, the author elucidated the background of the Ottoman Empire that leds to the Tanzimat reform. The author deals with the decision by Sultan Abdul Mejid to announce the Hatt-i Humayun, an imperial edict on the organizational reform of the Ottoman Empire.

According to the author, this attempt was a timely decision as a solution for the internal problems within the Ottoman administration and to curb the pressure from the Europeans power. The Tanzimat or reorganization including the adoption and adaptation of some Western ideas and institutions in several fields, included administration, military, economic, social, and political. According to the author, the decay of the old administrative of the Ottoman Empire was inadequate to face the internal pressures and had been the one of the primary reasons for Ottoman weakness. During the past decades, the Ottoman Empire was very patient in controlling and maintaining its stability. However the Tanzimat attempt was quite a rapid one. The uncritical and over-zealous adoption of Western ideas laid the basis of the ultimate secularization of governmental administration and social upheaval. Tanzimat reform by Sultan Abdul Mejid was a stepping stone of secularism-cult that was crystallized during the time of Mustafa Kemal Attaturk.

The author perceived this reform as step to revitalize the empire and preserve it in a world ordered by European power and civilization. This reform according to the author was not only about the justice and equality to the minorities and non-Muslims, but also reform in military, economic, social, intellectual, legal, and political. The author believed that this reform was not intended to “throw dust in the eyes of Europe”, but revitalize the Empire back.

It is worthy to mention the influence of the idea of Enlightenment and French Revolution led to the establishment of the Tanzimat reform. These reforms had been introduced not only to save the Empire but to satisfy and placate the Great Powers, who used the ill-treatment of non-Muslim minorities as a pre-text to further their own aims.

In Chapter II, the author deals with the measures of the Tanzimat reforms. It included the abolition of tax farming, the abolition of bribery, strict observance of annual budgets, the establishment of banks, the employment of European capital and skills for economic improvement, the codification of penal code, commercial law, reform of the prison system, and the establishment of mixed courts for Muslim and non-Muslims.The author also explains the challenges faced by the Tanzimat movement from the ulema, and the Janissaries.

In Chapter VI, the author discussed the formation of the young Turks. He elucidated the influence of Mazzini’s Young Italy on the Young Turks. These Young Turks were also influenced by the Jacobins of the French Revolution. Regarding the relationship between the Mazzini’s Young Italy and the Young Turks, there is another source that can support the author’s argument. Nesta Webster, in his work, Secret Societies and Subversive Movement (1928, p.284) writes that: “The Young Turk movement began in Masonic Lodges of Thessaloniki under the direct supervision of the Grand Lodge of Italy, which later shared in the success of Mustapha Kemal.”

In concluding remark of this chapter, the author stressed that there is a danger of over estimating the impact of the Young Turk on the course of events in the Ottoman Empire.

In the last chapter, the author deals with the Constitution of 1876. The aims of the constitution were the welfare of all Ottoman peoples, who should enjoy the blessings of liberty, justice, and equality, and safeguarding the government from absolutist monarchy, and put the government under the power of the State. The author argued that the entire constitution was Western in inspiration. One way or another, this is true. It is in essence was based on the concept of the Enlightenment and French Revolution. The author stated that the Tanzimat reform was a stepping stone for Mustafa Kemal Attaturk attempt to turn Ottoman Empire to a modern Turkey. The Tanzimat then was a means of individual liberties. On the importance of people, public opinion, and other elements that related to Western political system as opposed to monarchical sovereignty.

Through this book, it seems that the author viewed the Tanzimat movement as a step for the betterment of the Empire. However, in one hand, this movement opened the Empire to foreign infiltration. In the proceeding period, we can see that the Empire was still in the state of deterioration. When Sultan Abdul Hamid became the Caliph, the Empire was already on the edge of collapse. The Empire’s economy was increasingly being controlled by the great powers, especially France and England, under the terms of the capitulations which led to economic control and manipulation from these two great powers during that time.

Turkey then is just another ‘victim’ of the implementation of Hegelian theory in practice of creating false conflict to create a new synthesis. The synthesis was the abolishment of the Caliphate. In one way or another, creating conflict is not only a tactic in winning in battles and wars, but also in controlling other people. Reform, or islah or Tanzimat in Turkish language is not wrong in essence, but it relies upon on who is responsible in this action and on what motive and purpose.

Money has no meaning beyond its concrete existence; it is merely another object with certain physical properties.

The human mind insists otherwise. The mind confers real value and elaborate power on these mere scraps of paper. It infuses money with potent psychological meanings, a surrogate for mortal anxieties and yearnings that lie deep and unexpressed in everyone. The psyche insists that money has meaning. And so does society. By stripping money down to its natural properties, Bene invites the viewer to escape for a moment at least, the bondage of his own mind.

The money illusion is ancient and universal, present in every transaction and absolutely necessary to every exchange. Money is worthless unless everyone believes in it. A buyer could not possibly offer a piece of paper in exchange for real goods – food or clothing or tools – if the seller did not also think the paper was really worth something.

This shared illusion was as old as stone coins and wampum, a power universally conferred by every society in history on any object that was ever regarded as money – seashells, dogs’ teeth, tobacco, whiskey, cattle, the shiny minerals called silver and gold, even paper, even number in account book. …

Modern money, of course, required the same leap of faith, the same social consent that primitive societies gave to their money. Modern money, in fact, was even more distant from concrete reality. Over the centuries, the evolution of money was a long and halting progression in which human societies hesitantly transferred their money faith from one object to another, at each step moving farther away from real value and closer to pure abstraction. The cattle used as currency by some African tribes were, after all, valuable in themselves. If the money illusion collapsed from some reason, the coins were still cattle. The seashells that became precious currency among aboriginal tribes in North America and other continents were desirable Tobacco, which was used as currency in some pre-Revolutionary colonies like Virginia and the Carolinas, was valuable commodity in its own right. Even gold and silver were not entirely useless. They could be fashioned by an artist into beautiful objects.

In that sense, modern money was utterly worthless (and, therefore, more efficient as money because its value did not get confused with the value of real things). The money illusion was now refined to a new level of abstract faith, visible only if one consciously paused to consider how the money process had evolved. At each stage of history one could see money retreating from concrete reality.

Paper money, it is said, originated with the goldsmiths of Europe who held the private gold hoards deposited by wealthy citizens for safekeeping. The goldsmith issued a receipt for the gold deposit, and over time, it became clear that the receipt itself could be used in commerce since whoever owned that piece of paper could go the goldsmith and claim the gold. Modern banking originated in the goldsmiths’ discovery that they could safely write more receipts and lend them to people, exceeding the total gold that was on hand, so long as they always kept a responsible minimum in reserve to honor withdrawals. This was the origin of fractional-reserve banking and the bank lending that created money. This private money system endured for centuries and was inherited by the American Republic: privately owned banks created money by issuing paper bank notes, paper backed by a promise that at any time it could be redeemed in gold. …

The nationalization of currency issuance, completed with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, simply continued this arrangement. A new dimension of trust had added to the illusion.

Finally the last prop for the money illusion was kicked away in this century: the gold standard was abandoned. Demand deposits had been backed by the same promise that applied to currency – any private citizen could, in theory, go to the bank and redeem his money in a quantity of gold. That promise was extinguished by government edict, starting with the waring nations of Europe during World War I, joined belatedly by the United States in 1933. Without the gold guarantee, money was only money – “legal tender for all debts, public and private,” as it says on every Federal Reserve Note. A citizen can still go to the bank and redeem it, but his money will be redeemed only in new, identical Federal Reserve Notes. …

Next the paper itself disappears. Money becomes truly invisible. Americans are now in the midst of this great transition – transferring their money faith again, this time to objects that are even more intangible. Commerce relies increasingly now on transactions in which the social trust is conferred upon plastic cards. The plastic itself money, only a coded key that gives access to money. As computer technology advances and money terminals are placed in every outlet of commerce, the plastic cards will displace both checks and currency as the medium of exchange. The pieces of paper will all but disappear, no longer needed to represent real value.

Excerpt from the book: Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider.

Islam, Murabaha and Fixed Deposits

Islam and Usury

Written by Imran N. Hosein

Islam has declared war on the moneylender who demands interest. It did so in the very last divine revelation (al-Baqarah, 2:279) to come down in the Holy Qur’an. Here is that last revelation:

“O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury (i.e., the interest due on a fixed deposit, or on any other loan on interest), if ye are indeed believers.” If ye do it not (i.e. if you persist in your claim or demand for the interest due to you), then take notice of (a declaration of) war from Allah and His Messenger: but if ye turn away (from such claim or demand), then you are entitled to the return of your capital sum (placed in the fixed deposit or otherwise lent); do not enter into (such) unjust transactions, nor allow yourselves to be subjected to such.

If (you forgo the interest due to you and then find) the debtor in a difficulty (in respect of returning the capital sum that was lent to him on interest), grant him time till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.

And (in this matter in particular, i.e., lending money on interest) fear the Day when ye shall be brought back to Allah. Then shall every soul be paid what it earned, and none shall be dealt with unjustly.’ (Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:278-281)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) declared that the consumption of even a Dirham (a silver coin worth a few dollars) of Riba (usury) was equivalent to “committing adultery 36 times”. He also declared that Riba was comprised of 70 parts and that the smallest part (was so bad that) it was equivalent to “a man marrying his own mother”. Indeed “he cursed all four, and declared that they were all equally guilty—the one who took Riba (i.e., the money-lender), the one who gave Riba (i.e., while paying interst on a loan), the one who recorded the transaction (hence bank personnel), and the two witnesses.”

Fifty years ago my own Muslim community of Trinidad and Tobago was led by Haji Ruknuddin (may Allah have mercy on him). He was a leader who both ‘knew’ and ‘lived’ Islam. At that time a Muslim money-lender appeared on the scene and the leader of our community made every effort to get that man to give up his money-lending. When he failed in that effort he responded by prohibiting Muslims from even having a meal in the moneylender’s home. The Muslim community obeyed the command of its leader.

But times have since changed, and our Muslim community is now led, with but few exceptions, by men who neither ‘know’ nor ‘live’ Islam, and by scholars who betray Islam. We even have Muslim leaders here in Trinidad who are consummate money-lenders, placing their money in highest yielding fixed-deposits in the international money market. They then use their bloated check-books that drip with the blood of the masses they have exploited, to bribe their way into winning elections and assuming posts of President-General of Islamic organizations. Those with the intellectual acumen of cattle then legitimize such (checkbook) leaders.

Even Islamic scholars have fallen by the wayside so badly that when a Trinidadian (money-lending) bank organizes a function to commemorate Eid al-Fitr, an Imam who is described as a Maulana accepts an invitation to deliver a feature address at the function. Then his photograft appears in the daily newspaper posing with bank officials. And so, there is both widespread ignorance of the divine law pertaining to the prohibition of Riba, and, worse, wanton violation of that law.

In this essay we direct attention to ‘Fixed Deposits’ as well as to so-called Murabaha transactions in an attempt to explain such to be ‘money-lending’ transactions.

At the heart of the Islamic prohibition of usury (Riba) is the maxim that if you do not plant, you cannot reap. This constitutes a rejection of the false claim to a ‘time-value’ of money. Money by itself cannot increase over time without any input of labor, or without the risk (of loss or of gain) inherent in an authentic business transaction.

The blessed Prophet declared that any transaction involving an exchange of ‘money’ for ‘money’ must be an equal exchange, i.e., with no difference in amount of money exchanged. He declared that an unequal exchange (that would open the door for money to increase over time) would be Riba. Islam also insists that all business transactions must involve risk – and hence ‘profit’ or ‘loss’. Allah Most High can then intervene to distribute and redistribute wealth by taking from some and giving to others. In this way the rich would not remain permanently rich, and the poor would not be imprisoned in permanent poverty

In his masterpiece entitled ‘Merchant of Venice’, William Shakespeare likened Riba or usury to a ‘pound of flesh’. And in a dream Prophet Muhammad saw the moneylender exposed as a ‘bloodsucker’ since he was standing in a river of blood. We noted earlier that the Prophet cursed “all four”, and declared that “they were all equally guilty—the ones who ‘took’ Riba, ‘gave’ Riba, ‘recorded the transaction’, and ‘the two witnesses’.” Whoever dies with the curse of a Prophet upon him can never escape the hellfire. The Qur’an itself declared that the moneylender would be punished with eternal hellfire:

“Those who devour usury will not stand (before their Lord for Judgment) except as stands one whom Satan by his touch hath driven to madness.That is because they claim that: ‘Business is like lending on interest,’ but Allah hath permitted business and forbidden usury. Those who after receiving direction from their Lord, desist, shall be pardoned for the past; their case is for Allah (to judge); but those who persist (in claiming the interest due from fixed deposits or other such loans on interest) are Companions of the Hellfire; they will abide therein (forever).”
(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:275)

What then, is the status of someone who makes a ‘Fixed Deposit’ with his money in a bank or any other financial institution? It should firstly be clear that he has not gifted the money. It must also be recognized that he has not entered into a ‘business’ transaction since he is guaranteed the return of his money plus an additional amount. There is no risk. There is no possibility of loss. And hence that is not business! In fact, in making a ‘Fixed Deposit’, he has lent his money on interest (Riba), and has hence become a cursed moneylender. Those (Muslims, Christians, Hindus, etc.) who read this essay and, in consequence of fear of Allah’s eternal punishment, promptly respond by breaking their ‘Fixed Deposits’, would want to know what they could do with their Riba money. They can neither use it themselves, nor can they give it to others as charity.

BACK-DOOR RIBA

Islamic Banks and other Islamic financial institutions are today lending money on interest through the back-door by disguising a loan as a sale on credit. They call it murabaha! But it is most certainly not murabaha! It is Riba! What the bank does is to offer an item on sale in a credit transaction with a price substantially higher than the cash price. While credit transactions are Halal, since the blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) himself engaged in such transactions, there is no evidence that the credit price in such transactions was ever higher than the cash price. When credit price is higher than cash price then the implication would be that time has value. And the essence of Riba is that money grows over time. When a client wishes to purchase something, but does not possess the cash with which to purchase it, the so-called Islamic bank enters into the fiction of purchasing the item at its cash price and then selling it to the client on credit. The interest charges are added to the selling price thus making a credit price for the item substantially higher than the cash price.

In fact the bank never actually purchases the item. Rather, it writes out a check to the client who then purchases the item in his name with the bank holding a lien on the item until the sale price is eventually paid to the bank. The bank therefore sold something that it never actually owned – and that is Haram! In actual fact the ‘sale’, also, was entirely fictitious. What the bank actually did was to ‘lend’ a specific sum of money on interest over a specific period of time and to then denominate the ‘loan’ in the amount of a final total that included the total interest payments as money due on a ‘sale’.

It is when the client defaults on payment of installments of money due to the bank that one is treated to ridiculous and utterly scandalous financial gymnastics. Consider the following: a client entered into a so-called murabaha transaction with an unnamed Islamic Bank to purchase a house with a market price of $500,000. The bank wrote out the check to him for $500,000. with which he then purchased the house in his name. He thus became legal owner of the house. The bank then transacted with him a fictitious sale agreement to sell to him on credit a house that the bank never owned (and hence could not sell) for a total of $1 million. The difference between the credit and cash prices was thus $500,000.

One month after entering into the agreement the client defaulted on his payments. The bank then repossessed the house and sold it on the open market for $500,000. But the bank went on to sue the client for an outstanding balance of almost $500,000. The court, however, dismissed the claim and ruled that the bank was entitled to nothing more than the interest payment for the actual duration of the contract (i.e., the amount of time it took the bank to recover its $500,000.)

We have a stern warning to deliver to those scholars of Islam who persist in defending the so-called murabaha transactions of Islamic Banks today. They defend the transaction with Fatwas (fatawa) that are as invalid as the Fatwas (fatawa) which today blindly declare paper money of the modern world to be Halal, and would equally blindly declare tomorrow’s ‘electronic money’ to be Halal. If they obstinately persist in their defense of today’s so-called Murabaha transactions, and then learn in Allah’s court that it was not Murabaha but Riba, at that time they cannot plead for mercy from Allah for they will have misguided people, nor can they say “I did not know”.

Hedging with the Gold Dinar by Dr. Ahamed Rameel Mydin Meera.

The 1997 East Asian currency crisis made apparent how vulnerable currencies can be. The speculative attacks on the Ringgit, for example, would have devastated the economy if not for the quick and bold counteractions taken by the government, particularly in checking the offshore Ringgit transactions. The need for firms to manage their foreign exchange risk also become apparent.

Many individuals, firms and business found themselves helpless in the wake of drastic exchange rate movements. Malaysia’s being among the most open economies in the world in terms of International trade reflects the degree of its exposures to foreign exchange risk. The economist magazine’s Pocket World In Figures (2002 edition) ranks Malaysia the second most trade dependent country in the world. Trade as a percentage of gross domestic product is 92 percent for Malaysia, even higher than for Singapore, which ranks third with a figure of 78.8 percent.

Today, exchange rate risk is a marked phenomenon in the floating exchange rate regime. Many international investment, trade and finance dealings are shelved due to the unwillingness of parties concerned to bear the foreign exchange risk so that they may concentrate on what they are good at and eliminate or minimize a risk that not their trade.

Elsewhere, traditionally, currency derivatives-forward, futures and options contracts-have been used for this purpose. However, in many nations including Malaysia, futures and options on currencies are not available. The Malaysian Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) makes available a number of derivatives instruments - Kuala Lumpur Composite Index Futures, Index Options, Crude Palm Oil Futures and Kuala Lumpur Inter-Bank Offered Rate Futures — but not Ringgit futures or options.

Even in countries where currency derivative markets exist, not all derivatives on all currencies are traded. At the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in US for example, derivatives are available only on selected major world currencies like the Yen, Sterling and Australian Dollar - against the US dollar, mostly. For most other currencies of the world, including those of almost all developing nations, there are no formal tools for hedging the foreign exchange risk that has become immensely significant in today’s global business environment.

Recently Dr. Mahathir Mohamad mooted the idea of a gold payment system - the gold dinar - to settle bilateral and multilateral trades among countries and thereby eliminate foreign exchange risk. In this mode, gold is to be used as a medium of exchange and as a unit of account instead of the national currencies. Prices of export and imports are to be quoted in units of gold weights. It is important in this structure that gold itself and not national currencies backed by gold, is used for pricing, for otherwise it would not then be different from the gold standard in the past. Instruments backed by gold are vulnerable to easy abuse -which is what brought on the failure of the gold standard. In the gold dinar system, the central bank would play a important role of keeping national trade accounts and providing a secure place to keep gold. When Malaysia trades with Indonesia, for example, the gold accounting is kept through the medium of the central banks of both countries and only the net difference between the two is settled periodically. Nevertheless, every transaction in essence involves gold “movement”.

Since bilateral and multilateral trades are ongoing processes, any gold that needs to be settled can always be brought forward and used for future transaction s and settlements. On the ground, commercial banks that support gold accounts are viable partners in the implementation of the gold dinar system.

International trade and finance participants would deal with the commercial banks that provide such gold account. These commercial banks would in turn have gold accounts with their respective central banks. The above structure may sound a lot like the gold standard, but it is not. Gold and not gold backed instruments, is the medium here.

As an example, consider that Malaysia 100 bullion gold worth of good and service to Indonesia. While importing 80 bullion worth. Hence, Malaysia has a surplus trade of 20 bullion. Indonesia needs to settle only this difference of 20 bullion. However, this amount could be used for settling future trade imbalances between the countries is not necessary. Note that this simple structure eliminates exchange rate risk. This means there is no need for forward, futures or options trades on the currencies. All countries, including those without such derivatives markets, can enjoy this benefit. After all, developing a derivatives market is costly and time consuming. It also introduces in efficiency to the market since additional transaction costs need to be incurred.

Unlike the forward, futures or options markets, the gold dinar does not depend on speculators for increased liquidity. By being a global currency, it is capable of providing the need liquidity without bestowing any “unfair” seignorage on any particular currency. Also, unlike imperfections of hedging that are likely to happen with forward contracts, futures and options due to the standardized nature of these contracts, the gold dinar does not introduce such imperfections.

With the gold dinar, the hedging cost is fixed against gold, but note that even when hedging is done in any currency denomination, there is still risk in the fluctuation of that currency. Gold is superior here because it has intrinsic value. A hedger also pays neither the initial margin nor daily variation margins, as is the case with currency futures. Such margins are potential cash flow burdens on hedgers. Even though the International gold price may fluctuate, the participants in a gold dinar system realize that unlike national currencies, gold has a stable intrinsic value that can be depended upon for continuous trade into the future. Even though with the existence of national currencies speculation and arbitrage on the price of gold could tempt a participating country to redeem of sell its gold, it should resist such temptations for the sake of stable and continuous future trades.

A regulation requiring that the gold stock with the central banks be used only for settling real transactions may be necessary. At this juncture, one may be ask the question: How does this structure differ from a simple barter trade between countries?. The advantage is that gold acts as a unit of account and thereby eliminates problems associated with barter.

The gold dinar would also reduce speculation and arbitrage between national currencies. For example, if three countries agree to use the gold payment system, then it is akin to the three currencies. Becoming a single currency. Accordingly, speculation and arbitrage among these three currencies will be reduced or even eliminated. This “unification” of the three currencies through the gold dinar provides diversification benefits.

It is like obtaining diversification through a portfolio of shares. Individual currencies face risks that are unique to the issuer country. For example, political turmoil can cause a national currency to depreciate, but in unified currency such risks would be reduced. In fact, since people of all races, creeds and nationalities treasure gold, it is suitable global currencies that enjoy global acceptance.

This means no single country’s unique risk may be significantly embedded in gold. However, the gold dinar system entail legal obligations between the parties concerned, just like the forward and futures contracts and it may not be easy for a trader to remove this obligation easily as is possible with futures.

In my opinion, the gold dinar if implemented is similar to the forward contract but with its problems of “barter”, speculative and arbitrage elements removed; and are also a superior tool for managing foreign exchange risk compared to the futures and option contracts.

The gold dinar is likely to reduce transaction cost too, since only accounting record need to be kept. Transactions can be executed by means of electronic media with minimal cost. Hence, for international trades in this system, one no longer needs to open a letter of credit with a bank, incur exchange rate transaction costs (that is, the differrent buying and selling rates for currencies) or even face exchange rate risk.

The gold dinar system also reduces the need to create large amounts of national currencies through multiple deposit creation in the banking sector. This therefore reduces the possibility of excessive speculation and future attacks on the Ringgit like the one in 1997. The banking sector can compensate for this “implied” loss by viewing the gold dinar system as an opportunity and thereby providing the necessary services in collaboration with the central bank.

The current global financial system is showing signs of instability, which in my opinion is partly but significantly due to the fiat nature of money. The problem lies with its attribute that is created and destroyed in the financial system. Such instability is currently observable in the US. The financial distress depicted by a number of huge firms lately is bound to destroy a large sum of fiat money that in turn can be expected to bring about a banking crisis just like that experienced in Malaysia 1997-98.

Gold, on the other hand, has all the characteristics of a good currency; it is desired and highly valued for its own sake, homogenous, stable, durable, divisible and mobile; and can neither be created nor destroyed. It can thus play the role of a stable international unit of account that is profoundly missing in the current floating exchange rate system since the demise of the Bretton Woods in 1971.

Perhaps we can take our cue from Nobel laureate Robert Mundell, who predicted that gold would again be part of the international monetary system in the 21st centurys.

My comment:

Prophet Muhamad s.a.w. said: Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Allah’s Messenger, do you mean Jews and Christians (by your words)” those before you”? He said: Who else?” (Sahih Muslim).

Saya dalam proses membaca buku-buku ini dalam rangka untuk memahami Realiti di sebalik apa yang berlaku sekarang. Sudah semestinya, saya juga; bahkan lebih daripada itu saya perlu membaca al-Qur’an untuk memahami Realiti sekarang kerana Allah telah berfirman:

“Dan ingatlah) akan hari (ketika) Kami bangkitkan pada tiap-tiap umat seorang saksi atas mereka dari mereka sendiri dan Kami datangkan kamu (Muhammad) menjadi saksi atas seluruh umat manusia. Dan Kami turunkan kepadamu Al-Kitab (Al-Quran) untuk menjelaskan segala sesuatu dan petunjuk serta rahmat dan khabar gembira bagi orang-orang yang berserah diri (Muslimin).” (Al-Nahl; 16:89)

Dan selain itu oleh kerana Prof. Mat Demon sering menggelarkan saya serangga, parasit, lebih teruk daripada haiwan ternakan; dan saya merasakan diri saya seorang hipokrit, maka saya juga telah membeli dua buku ini iaitu: Al-amthal Dalam al-Qur’an: Golongan Kafir dan Ahli Kitab dan juga buku: Al-amthal Dalam al-Qur’an: Golongan Munafik.

Selain itu, pembacaan keenam-enam buku ini merupakan persediaan bagi saya untuk memahami golongan Virtuous Elite yang terlibat dalam bidang perbankan.

Pada mulanya saya agak keberatan untuk mewar-warkan bahawa saya dalam proses membaca buku-buku ini kerana saya rasa saya riya’ untuk menunjukkan bahawa saya seorang ‘ulat buku’, ‘seorang yang serius dalam bidang intelektual’, ‘berkaliber’, ‘berkarisma’ dan sebagainya, tetapi Prof. Mat Demon telah memberikan buah fikiran dan lontaran idea yang cukup bernas dan menganjakkan paradigma saya ke arah pemikiran yang lebih tuntas, justeru perkongsian ilmu di kalangan masyarakat tidak menjadi buntu dan kaku yang seterusnya bakal membawa kepada kemunduran dan kekakuan dalam mencerna ilmu dari sudut perspektif yang berbeza. Give me five Prof., idea dan ayat Prof. memang power, patutlah Prof. dapat PhD. In Decep.

Ya, sebelum ini saya ada menulis sebuah lontaran idea yang bertajuk Membuat Perubahan Melalui Perlakuan Sendiri - Create Change Through Your Own Conduct di mana saya telah melontarkan kata-kata keramat(?): “Berdakwah tidak semestinya anda menyampaikan sesuatu, tetapi anda boleh mengajak manusia untuk memikirkan sesuatu”. Ketika saya membaca bahagian Pendahuluan daripada buku Al-amthal Dalam al-Qur’an: Golongan Munafik, penulis telah membawa sebuah hadith yang bermaksud:

“Al-Qur’an diturunkan dalam lima bentuk iaitu halal, haram, muhkam, mutashabihah, dan perumpamaan (Amthal). Maka beramallah dengan yang halal, jauhilah yang haram, ikutilah yang muhkam, berimanlah dengan mutashabihah, dan ambillah pengajaran daripada perumpamaan“. (Riwayat al-Baihaqi).

Dan ayat al-Qur’an yang berbunyi:

“Sesungguhnya Allah tiada segan membuat perumpamaan berupa nyamuk atau yang lebih rendah dari itu. Adapun orang-orang yang beriman, maka mereka yakin bahwa perumpamaan itu benar dari Tuhan mereka, tetapi mereka yang kafir mengatakan: “Apakah maksud Allah menjadikan ini untuk perumpamaan?.” Dengan perumpamaan itu banyak orang yang disesatkan Allah, dan dengan perumpamaan itu (pula) banyak orang yang diberi-Nya petunjuk. Dan tidak ada yang disesatkan Allah kecuali orang-orang yang fasik”. (Al-Baqarah; 2: 26).

Menurut penulis, perumpamaan-perumpamaan ini (al-amthal) dapat menarik jiwa dan fikiran ke arah memikirkan hakikat kebenaran itu.

Saya sebenarnya tidak pasti sama ada mahu menulis tentang ini atau tidak. Tetapi rasanya tidak salah saya menulis sekadar untuk satu peringatan untuk saya dan kita semua. Saya rasa semua orang tahu tentang wabak penyakit yang melanda Malaysia dan dunia. Menurut laman web Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia, setakat 6 Ogos 2009, jumlah kematian sudah mencapai 14 orang. Dan berdasarkan sumber Bernama, ini termasuk 3 orang kanak-kanak.

Tidak perlu rasanya saya mengucapkan sedih tentang kematian kanak-kanak yang tidak berdosa ini, kerana Insya Allah Allah akan memasukkan mereka ke dalam syurga dan mereka juga mengharapkan ibu bapa mereka juga akan bersama mereka di syurga nanti. Kepada saudara SeIslam saya yang kehilangan anak, ayah ibu, saudara mara kerana wabak penyakit ini, saya cuma boleh memberikan anda hadith ini yang Insya Allah bakal mengubat hati yang luka:

Abu Hurairah r.a. telah meriwayatkan bahawa Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. telah bersabda:

“Kematian kerana wabak penyakit adalah syahid bagi seorang Muslim.” (Hadith Riwayat Bukhari dalam Bab Perubatan).

Apakah kita umat Islam dapat lakukan ketika wabak ini merebak? Sebagaimana sabda Rasulullah, kita umat Islam bersaudara, kita seperti batu-bata yang melengkapi satu dinding. Saya tidak menafikan bahawa kita harus berdoa kepada Allah agar menjauhkan diri kita, ibu bapa, isteri kita dan anak-anak kita daripada wabak penyakit ini. Lebih daripada itu kita harus mengambil pelajaran daripada hadith ini:

Diriwayatkan oleh Aisha: “Saya bertanya Rasulullah tentang wabak penyakit. Beliau memberitahu saya bahawa ia merupakan hukuman daripada Allah ke atas siapa yang dikehendakinya dan Allah menjadikannya sebagai sumber rahmat kepada orang-orang Muslim di mana jika di kala mana seorang berada di waktu ketika tersebarnya wabak penyakit dan dia tinggal tidak meninggalkan tanahairnya mengharapkan balasan kebaikan daripada Allah dan percaya bahawa tidak akan apa yang berlaku ke atasnya melainkan apa yang telah disuratkan oleh Allah ke atasnya, dia akan menerima balasan kebaikan sebagai seorang syahid.” (Hadith Riwayat Bukhari di dalam Bab Kebaikan dan Kemuliaan Nabi (s.a.w.) dan para Sahabatnya.)”

Kita seharusnya memperbanyakkan memohon keampunan Allah dan bertaubat kepadanya. Saya menggalakkan anda membaca Risalah al-Qusyairi dalam Bab Taubat untuk mengetahui apakah maksud taubat yang ingin saya sampaikan. Cuba kita ambil pengajaran dan amalkan doa Nabi Yunus ketika berada dalam perut ikan Nun:

“Tidak ada Tuhan selain Engkau. Maha Suci Engkau, sesungguhnya aku adalah termasuk orang-orang yang zalim.” (Al-Anbiya’, 21: 87). Anda boleh baca apakah yang menyebabkan Nabi Yunus ditimpa cubaan sebegitu. Dalam ayat seterusnya, Allah memperkenankan doanya dan menyelamatkannya dari kedukaan.

Dan dalam keadaan seperti sekarang ini, tidak salah rasanya saya menggesa saya dan anda semua agar dapat mengambil pelajaran daripada Surah al-Dukhan. Maksud saya mengambil pelajaran daripadanya; bukan kepada siapa azab itu ditujukan tetapi apakah yang menyebabkan turunnya azab itu.

Dan sudah sampai masanya kita mengkaji wahyu terakhir yang diturunkan kepada Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. Kita tidak sepatutnya tidur ketika Allah dan Rasulnya mengisytiharkan perang terhadap kita. Kita sama-sama bertanggung jawab dengan apa yang menimpa umat Islam dan umat manusia.

Ya, oleh kerana Halwa merupakan makanan kegemaran kita umat Islam sekarang, bahkan merupakan makanan ruji golongan Virtuous Elite, pada kali ini saya ingin berkongsi satu resipi yang cukup menarik, iaitu halwa lobak merah. Hidangan ini cukup mudah disediakan oleh puan-puan di rumah dan boleh dihidangkan di waktu petang ketika suami merangkap sifu puan-puan pulang ke rumah, lebih-lebih lagi sekiranya suami puan bekerja di bank, atau terlibat dengan institusi perbankan, ya tidak kiralah bank apa. Ini kerana bekerja di bank memang mencabar, termasuk dalam empat golongan yang disebut dalam hadith, dan terpaksa ‘give and take’ dengan bloodsucking predatory Elite. Hidangan ini boleh memberikan tenaga dan menyegarkan kembali minda suami puan yang lesu.

Ya, jangan lupa sediakan pen dan kertas ketika menonton video ini. Selamat mencuba!

Seperti biasa, aku memohon keampunan Allah dengan kesyahduan, bahkan aku sering nak masukkan keluh kesah rayuan keampunan aku kepada Allah dalam blog aku, biasalah aku ini virtuous hipokrit. Ya, ini bukan ruangan Keluh Kesah Bersama Kak Esah dalam Majalah Ujang, tapi aku suka baca ruangan itu.

Prof. Mat Demon datang, aku rasa dia baru selesai menjalankan tugasnya di Orange Club. Beliau berkata: “Yo wassup wassup my man, my nigga, apa benda yang kau tengah merapu itu. Ah, cakap bahasa Melayu sahaja, aku semua bahasa boleh. Dahlah bahasa Inggeris kau tatabahasa berterabur.”

Dengar Prof. kata seperti itu, nak kata muka aku merah padam ayu-ayu tiadalah, sebab aku bukan Sizuka dalam cerita Doraemon itu.

Prof. Mat Demon berkata lagi: “Aku minta maaf sebab panggil kau seranggga tempoh hari, Nay, kau bukan setakat serangga, tapi parasit.”

“Kau tahu tak”, Prof. Mat Demon meneruskan kuliahnya, “Akhir zaman ini, banyak manusia lebih teruk daripada kambing peliharaannya.”

Aku membalas, “Apa buktinya?”

Prof. Mat Demon memberikan hujah: “Ada hadith yang berbunyi: “Dari Anas r.a. katanya Rasulullah s.a.w. bersabda: “Akan tiba masanya bagi manusia yang mana ketika itu orang mukmin lebih hina daripada kambingnya.” (Hadith Riwayat Ibn Asakir).

Aku kehairanan lalu berkata: “Siapakah gerangan mereka itu.”

Prof. Mat Demon membalas: “Salah satunya engkaulah, parasit.”

Aku berasa sangat marah, lalu berkata: “Engkau ini tidak ada adab dalam menyampaikan ilmu, lebih daripada itu kau tidak beradab di depan Allah, patutlah Allah menghalau engkau daripada syurga.”

Prof. Mat Demon berkata: “Memang aku tidak beradab, tapi apa yang aku katakan ini benar. Kamu orang Islam ada telinga, ada akal, ada hati, tapi kamu tidak menggunakannya untuk memahami tipu daya musuhmu di sekeliling kamu. Kamu semua diuji oleh Allah, tapi kamu telah gagal dalam ujian ini. Ini kerana kau telah tertipu dengan duniawi. Kamu mengharapkan belas kasihan dan keampunan daripada Allah agar menghilangkan bala dan fitnah yang menimpa kamu semua, tetapi Allah sekarang amat marah dengan umat Muhammad ini, bahkan Allah dan Rasulnya sekarang mengisytiharkan perang terhadap kamu semua. Cuba kamu baca Surah al-Dukhan dan ambil pengajaran daripadanya.

Aku berkata: “Baiklah. Tapi saya hairan, kenapa Prof. beritahu semua ini, bukankah tugas Prof….

Prof. Mat Demon memotong: “Itu memang tugas aku. Dan aku memang menjalankan tugas itu ke atas kamu sekarang. Tapi cuma kamu tidak faham.”

Aku kebingungan, aku mahu bertanya lagi. Tapi Prof. lantas berkata: “Ah, sudahlah, malas aku nak layan kau lagi, aku ada tugas lain sekarang. Lain kali sahaja kita sambung diskusi ilmiah ini. Ha, kalau kau nak masukkan diskusi ini dalam blog kau, masukkan bawah kategori Educational”

Aku menggaru kepala, mana ada aku buat kategori Educational. Ah, suka hati kaulah Prof.

Prof. Mat Demon said to me: “Malakian, you think you are cattle? You think you’re good enough to be cattle?”

I said to Prof. Mat Demon: “Then what should I be seeing that I’m the worst creature in this entire universe, I’m a hypocrite.”

Prof. Mat Demon said to me: “You should be nothing you fool insect.”

I said: “You’re correct Prof. I should empty myself and return to God.” I continued my speech, trying to be smart: “But when will you return to God Prof. You’re once a knowledgeable creature, but you rebelled.

Prof. Mat Demon said to me: “You’re more stupid than I’ve expected. You fool insect, my Lord asked me to deceive mankind, but you still call me a rebel? You fool insect. Go beyond good and evil, and then you will be free from my bondage.”

Hadi’s push for Islamic finance gets cross party support

By: Saadon Aksah

Kuala Lumpur: PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang has called for a review of profit oriented products to strengthen Islamic finance in light of the global conventional financial system meltdown.

Abdul Hadi who singled out Islamic finance product al-Bai’ Bithaman Ajil, noted that some of these products also failed to be recognized in the Middle Eastern countries due to its high profit margin.

Al-Bai’ Bithaman Ajil is deferred payment sale where payment is made by the bank in a single payment and customers would pay a certain amount of monthly installments.

Certain quarters have pointed out that even though the high profit margin does not violate the letter of the Syariah it however runs contrary to the spirit of the Syariah to ensure justice for all.

“I’d like to suggest that Bank Islam does not rely solely on (the concept of) al-Bai’ Bithaman Ajil, where its high profit (margin) is questioned by many and needs to be re-looked,” Abdul Hadi said.

“There are those who noted that the total repayment matched interest (plus principal of the conventional system, or even exceeded it),” he said when debating the Bank NegaraMalaysia Bill 2009 in Dewan Rakyat June 1.

Abdul Hadi who is also Marang parliamentary member said the case suggests a flaw in the formulation of the product. “I hope economists will have a detailed look on a better alternative and a more moral way of doing things so there will not be injustice,” he said.

Apart from having to pay a higher amount of profit margin to the bank compared to the conventional system, consumers also ran the risk of running into trouble if the house they bought using the product failed to be constructed on time.

They did not enjoy the current reduction in base lending (BLR) which is beneficial to the user of the conventional system. …

Abdul Hadi also called for the use of the gold dinar to prevent Islamic countries from relying on the dollar.

He also did not discount the possibility of working with the ruling party to improve the Islamic financial system in the country and called on an economic committee similar to the one formed during the administration of former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad to be formed.

Extracted from Harakah, English Section, 6-9 July 2009, Bil. 1453.
Transcribed by Malakian: http://malakian.blogsome.com

Alhamdulillah, perjuangan dalam bidang ekonomi iaitu mengembalikan ekonomi kepada Allah seperti yang diperjuangkan oleh antara lainnya Shaykh Imran Nazar Hosein dan di Malaysia oleh Datuk Paduka Haji Husam Musa sudah mendapat tempat yang sewajarnya. Semoga segala al-Dukhan yang menyeliputi langit Malaysia dan negara umat Islam amnya akan hilang dan diganti oleh hujan rahmat daripada Allah; semoga umat Islam yang hidup miskin merana kerana terpaksa hidup di bawah payung Dajjal satu hari nanti dapat bebas daripada belenggu yang menimpa mereka.

Ibn Abbas berkata: “Mereka yang pertama mengikut Dajjal terdiri daripada 70,000 orang Yahudi… dan di antara tanda-tanda bahawa telah keluarnya Dajjal adalah… pengamalan riba.” (Ishaq ibn Basheer dan Ibn Asakir di dalam Kanz al-Ummal.)

Abu Hurairah berkata bahawa Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. telah bersabda: “Riba itu terbahagi kepada 70 macam jenis dan dosa yang paling kecil daripadanya bersamaan seperti seorang lelaki bernikah (iaitu menjalinkan hubungan kelamin) dengan ibunya sendiri”. (Hadith Riwayat Ibn Majah dan Baihaqi).

p.s/: Adakah golongan Elit masih akan mengatakan bahawa idea mengkaji balik Institusi Kewangan Islam dan pengenalan penggunaan dinar emas ini terlalu idealistik dan tidak berpijak di bumi nyata dan akan terus menggasak orang awam seperti saya dan rakyat Muslim Malaysia yang dirahmati Allah agar terus memakan bertih jagung dan dedak ayam yang ditaburkan di tanah?

Adakah kita dapat hidup selesa, termasuk selesa pemikiran apabila Allah dan Rasulnya mengisytiharkan perang terhadap kita:

Orang-orang yang makan (mengambil) riba tidak dapat berdiri melainkan seperti berdirinya orang yang kemasukan syaitan lantaran (tekanan) penyakit gila. Keadaan mereka yang demikian itu, adalah disebabkan mereka berkata (berpendapat), sesungguhnya jual beli itu sama dengan riba, padahal Allah telah menghalalkan jual beli dan mengharamkan riba. Orang-orang yang telah sampai kepadanya larangan dari Tuhannya, lalu terus berhenti (dari mengambil riba), maka baginya apa yang telah diambilnya dahulu (sebelum datang larangan); dan urusannya (terserah) kepada Allah. Orang yang kembali (mengambil riba), maka orang itu adalah penghuni-penghuni neraka; mereka kekal di dalamnya. (Al-Baqarah, 2: 275)